A few (late) musings on the 2014 Oscar nominees

Today I woke up extra early to catch the super exciting nominations announcement. I cheered, I gasped and I scratched my head at some of the names uttered by Chris Hemsworth and Academy president, Cheryl Boone Isaacs. Here are some of my thoughts on the nominees, the snubbed, the surprises and even a little trivia about the people who will be competing for Hollywood’s most coveted award.

I’m happy to say that I correctly predicted all 9 nominees for Best Picture, so yay for that. I got one wrong in each acting category and two wrong in Directing. Oh well.

Tom Hanks left out of the Best Actor race and Emma Thompson out of Best Actress were real shockers. Haven’t seen Saving Mr. Banks, though I’m sure Emma is great in it, but Hanks was superb in Captain.

I’m bummed that Daniel Brühl wasn’t nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his marvelous performance in Rush.

With the Oscars, the last big crop of nominations have been announced and Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, who both gave career-best performances in Prisoners, were completely ignored.

Kudos to David O. Russell and the cast of American Hustle. That’s only the 15th movie to garner nominations in every acting category (Christian Bale and Amy Adams in Lead, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence in Supporting). Russell accomplished this feat last year with Silver Linings Playbook (Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence in Lead, Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver in Supporting, with Lawrence winning).

What can I say about my paisanos? Alfonso Cuarón is the frontrunner for Best Director, plus he scored nods for Best Picture and Editing. His Gravity is the film with the most nominations this year, tying with Hustle, with 10 each. Emmanuel Lubezki garners his sixth Oscar nom for Cinematography; he should’ve won for The Tree of Life, which is one of the most gorgeous films ever. Mexican-born Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o scored a Supporting Actress nod for 12 Years a Slave. The best thing? All three could very well go home with a little golden man on March 2.

I’m a little sad that Oprah Winfrey wasn’t acknowledged for her terrific turn in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, but I’m glad that the one that took “her” place was Sally Hawkins, great in Blue Jasmine.

Jonah Hill is now a two-time Academy Award nominee. Not bad for someone who usually stars in comedies produced by Judd Apatow (which I like, but the Academy, of course, doesn’t).

Queen Meryl nabs her 18th Oscar nomination, breaking her own record. That number is astonishing, but a couple women are getting steadily close: Jennifer Lawrence, who is only 23 years old, got her third nomination in just 4 years; Julia Roberts has 4; Amy Adams and Cate Blanchett are on their fifth, while Judi Dench is on her seventh.

Amy Adams is the only one in the Best Actress category who hasn’t won an Oscar before.

Thrilled that Leonardo DiCaprio was recognized by the Academy for an incredible performance in The Wolf of Wall Street, where Leo got to show off an impressive talent for comedy. This is his fourth nomination.

Agreed. Though that should have been supporting. Honestly, given that Hanks was shockingly not nominated, I think McConaughey should win should for Dallas Buyer’s Club and that Mud is also the best supporting performance. He deserves a clean sweep of this year’s Oscars’ male categories. 🙂

I think he’s surpassed Chiwetel and is now the frontrunner for Best Actor. Can’t wait to see DBC. Also, with other buzzed-about performances this year (Mud and Wolf), I really thought he’d pull off a double nomination.

He might have if Mud’s studio had been smart enough to call him a supporting actor (like he actually is). But since he was their A-List star, they called him the face of the movie. No actor has ever been nominated twice for the same category.

And McConaughey is clearly the favorite for Dallas Buyer’s Club. As he should be.

American Hustle should earn another award (at least from DSB). Most Overrated Film of 2013. Not just comedy. Film. I liked it, but there’s no way it should get Best Picture. There was way too much that was underdeveloped in that story to warrant top honors. But that’s just my cynical opinion. 😀

Thanks, Tom. Glad you liked it. We’ll see if I agree with you on Hustle, which I’ll be seeing later today. I don’t think it’ll get Best Picture, though. I think 12 Years a Slave is a lock, and if any movie takes it away from 12YAS, it’s gonna be Gravity.

Good thoughts. I shared a few earlier today and the first thing I mentioned was the snubs of “Inside Llewyn Davis”. Criminal! Also had about 5 other actors who I wish got a Best Actor nomination ahead of Leo. But that is such a huge field.

I was disappointed in 2013 and a lot of the movies that came out but the year ended very strongly and this is one if the tightest Oscar nominations I’ve seen for a while. It’s hard to call but as long Michael Fassbender wins, I’m a happy man!

Yes. I’ve seen many great movies this past couple of weeks and as I try to catch up with all the late-in-the-year releases I’m sure I’ll find more gems. Very solid nominees this year, indeed. But I’m sorry, I think Jared Leto is going to beat The Fass this year.

Such a bummer that The Wind Rises is nominated in the same category as Frozen, so of course it won’t win, even though Miyazaki deserves it. I loved the movie, the animation was amazing! Frozen is just another Disney movie, but you just cannot deny its popularity. It’s DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis all over again.